LAND TYPES OF MASSACHUSETTS 9 



affecting soil moisture and chemical characteristics were not specifically 

 treated in the survey reported, but they will be discussed briefly here. 



Most Hinckley soils are excessively drained and, therefore, are subject 

 to drouth. They are also low in native available plant food. Because of 

 these characteristics the use of Hinckley soils for agricultural use is 

 hazardous. Poorly drained soils have very limited agricultural use. Soils 

 of this nature having definite characteristics are given special series desig- 

 nations, such as VViiitmaii. (iloucester fine sandy loam generally has 

 medium moisture relations, being neither poorly nor excessively drained, 

 but there are exceptions to this. 



Massachusetts soils have been developed under a cool, humid climate, 

 and are, therefore, generally deficient in available bases, particularly in 

 the upper layers. This is a characteristic which to some extent affects 

 land use but more generally affects the practice followed after the choice 

 of use has been made. It is generally necessary to add lime and fertilizer 

 supplements to Massachusetts soils for successful cropping. Some soils 

 require more of these supplements for a given crop than do others, and 

 there is also a difference in crops in their requirements for lime and 

 fertilizer. 



Classification of Land for Use 



There are many methods for the classification of land, and the objectives 

 in land classification are numerous and varied. Any method which ac- 

 complishes the purpose for which it was intended may be called good. 

 Agronomists and others interested in land use seek a method of land 

 classification which has practical application and is developed on a scien- 

 tific basis, but is not so technical as to require a trained technician for 

 its interpretation or application. 



The classification of land according to soil type has received a wider 

 application in the United States than any other method which has had 

 agricultural use as its objective. Massachusetts has been entirely sur- 

 veyed as to soil type, and there is niuch valuable information regarding 

 soils and their use in the reports of the survey. These surveys have been 

 made at considerable cost to the State and Federal Governments. There- 

 fore, any method of land classification which can be based largely or 

 wholly on the soil survey has certain obvious advantages over others 

 which make little or no use of this survey. 



In the past the fullest use possible has not been made of the information 

 supplied in the reports and the maps of the soil survey, by those without 

 special training in soil technology. This has been due partly to the lack 

 of technical training by those having need of the information, and partly 

 to the failure of those who wrote the reports to make the necessary inter- 

 pretation of their findings. Soils have recognizable morphological char- 

 acteristics which make it possible for a good soil surveyor to differentiate 

 types which, though perhaps highly significant from a pedological view- 

 point, have little or no significance from the standpoint of agricultural use. 

 Soils may well be subdivided in great detail for scientific purposes, and 

 then recombined into groups, or land types, for practical utility. 



Possibly in the light of future research the significance of certain soil 

 characteristics not now understood may be discovered. Consider, for 

 example, the Gloucester and Brookfield soils. These series have very 

 similar characteristics related to topography, stoniness, erodibility, soil 



